Author: Michael Metzger

It’s popular to publish end-of-the-year lists featuring Best Books. I’m not that ambitious. Here is what I consider to be perhaps the best book of 2015.

I bring you good tidings of great joy. The angel’s announcement took the shepherds by surprise. Joy does that. C. S. Lewis discovered some of its surprises.

Ambiguity and complexity can shake people up. But they also stir something. That’s why the creation story is a bit disorienting. The Christmas story should be as well.

According to Stanford Business School, a divergent opinion can lead to better decisions. Scripture agrees, urging us to heed the divergent voice, especially during advent.

Are exiles genuine exiles? For decades, scholars have described the Western church as toiling in exile. Millions of Western believers feel this. They’re called exiles, but I’m beginning to doubt whether most of them are genuine.

The Englishman Samuel Johnson said people more often need to be reminded than informed. The Thanksgiving holiday comes to mind. The hagiography masks the harsh conditions that led to the Puritans giving thanks.

The terrorist attacks in Paris have a prologue. A century ago, the religious order unraveled within a very short space of time. The Paris attacks are one outcome.

Thomas Jefferson said the cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate. These days, an uneducated electorate is crumbling the underpinnings of the American experiment. Evangelicals are contributing to this.

Reid Hoffman, the founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, believes the future of business requires relentless networking. He’s moving at the speed of business, which is accelerating. Is the faith community keeping up?

Why does time seem to point in one direction? That’s a question the writers at the Economist recently asked. The answer requires looking in another direction.